THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 1, 1996 TAG: 9606010252
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: SALEM LENGTH: 25 lines
Virginia's Republican Party likes to cover it all - opening its meetings with not only a prayer, the Pledge of Allegiance and the national anthem, but also with a salute to the state flag.
Patrick McSweeney, the party's chairman, said the idea to use the state pledge came from a Danville woman, Libby Dabney, who remembered saying the salute in school. McSweeney said he liked the idea, in part because it emphasizes the party's commitment to states' rights.
According to Dabney, the pledge was written by a Martinsville woman and introduced into the legislature by a delegate from Henry County. The resolution establishing the pledge was signed by Gov. Thomas Stanley in 1954.
The pledge reads, ``I salute the flag of Virginia with reverence and patriotic devotion to the `Mother of states and statesmen' which it represents, the `Old Dominion' where liberty and independence were born.'' MEMO: GOP delegates to vote their displeasure with Warner today/A6 by CNB